No hiding: This Colorado teacher doesn’t hold back his feelings about how music moves him

How do teachers captivate their students? Here, in a feature we call How I Teach, we ask great educators how they approach their jobs. You can see other pieces in this series here.

Chris Maunu, choir director at Arvada West High School, was rehearsing a OneRepublic song with his students, when he choked up as the full weight of a lyric hit him. It reminded him of his sister, who has cerebral palsy.

Instead of beating back his emotions, Maunu told his students what he was feeling. It was all part of his commitment to show students his true self — and get the same back from them.

He talked to Chalkbeat about how vulnerability helps him teach, why he decided to switch his college major and what he does to encourage peer mentorship.

Maunu is one of 25 music teachers across the country selected as a semifinalist for the 2018 Music Educator Award presented by the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Museum.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited.

Why did you become a teacher?
I actually began college as a business management major. My parents insisted that I join the college choir, so I hesitantly signed up on registration day. The director wanted to hear all students sing individually in her office. She made it clear that this was not an audition, but a way to get to know everyone and their voices. When she heard me sing she was quite pleased and asked if I wanted to be in the select chamber choir. I responded, “Sure, let me just drop my history class.”

Before I knew it, I was involved in three collegiate choirs. I LOVED it! Everyone was so passionate and dedicated. I didn’t have a good music program in high school, so this was my first exposure to a quality program. After feeling pressured to put all of my energy into athletics in high school, I had finally found my home! I instantly wanted to provide that for young people. I wanted to do what I could to make sure my students feel PROUD to be in choir in high school. I changed majors that next semester and never looked back.

What does your classroom look like?
We have curved seated risers with 90 chairs. Front and center of the classroom is a seven-foot Steinway grand piano. The walls are decorated with photo collages of senior classes from the last decade, awards, trophies and inspirational quotes.

Fill in the blank. I couldn’t teach without my _________Why?
My voice. Modeling is such an important part of my instructional practice. The singing voice is such a complicated and intricate instrument that modeling is a crucial strategy in developing students’ voices.

What is one of your favorite lessons to teach?
We do a lesson based around fear. Students write down their greatest fears and I share them (anonymously) with the class. Inevitably, the most common one is the fear of being judged or criticized in front of their peers. When students learn that we all have the same insecurities around performing, they become more comfortable with who they are as singers and more importantly, as people. This is followed by a guided discussion. It’s amazing how much more supportive of one another they become.

How did you come up with the idea?
I have read a lot of materials by author Brene Brown. She has worked for years at breaking down the barriers of talking about uncomfortable things that we all experience but have a tendency to shove away, such as fear, shame, and vulnerability. She has greatly influenced my teaching.

How do you respond when a student doesn’t understand your lesson?
With the fear lesson, there is usually some hesitation, but not a lack of understanding. Once they begin hearing others’ vulnerabilities, they truly become engaged. In average music rehearsals, I try to have issues fixed at the “grassroots” level when possible. I strategically seat stronger students next to students with weaker talent or skills. A mentorship develops between the students in which the stronger student can help the weaker one along. If I need to step in, I’ll go that route as well.

How do you get your class’s attention if students are talking or off task?
We are constantly learning from one another in the choir room. Students get reminded that whatever another group is learning will apply to them as well. For example, if I’m working with the tenors and tell them that a vowel needs to be taller to achieve a specific blend and intonation, chances are it will also apply to the sopranos, altos and basses. Often each vocal section is dependent upon one another to find a pitch or tune a chord.

How do you get to know your students and build relationships with them? What questions do you ask or what actions do you take?
We do full-day retreats with our choirs at the start of the year to build relationships with them and with one another. We also have a student choir leadership team. Members of this team sponsor each choir class and hold social events through the year.

It’s my hope that every student in my classroom feels like they are the most liked and most needed student in the room. I go back to vulnerability. If I am modeling vulnerability — not just being emotional in front of them, but showing them my most authentic self — that bond really seems to take hold.

This is two-fold. First is being authentic in how I behave in general in the classroom. As an introvert, I have always been inspired when I attend professional conferences and see such extroverted leaders in the field share their expertise in how they do things in the classroom. I’ve left so many of those sessions saying to myself, “My teaching personality needs to be more like that!” While I think we all should learn from experts and continue to shape our craft, I think we need to be authentic about who we are. When I started to become more honest with myself, I hit my stride as a teacher.

The second part has to do with what we share with students. We can share personal things about ourselves without being inappropriate. Let’s not be talk about that difficult divorce we are going through, etc. but there are things that can allow students to really connect to us in a vulnerable way. Here is an example. One of my choirs was preparing the song “I Lived” by OneRepublic for our Pops Concert. The song was originally written about a Colorado teen with cystic fibrosis and overcoming life’s difficulties and truly living.

There was a lyric that hit me like a ton of bricks during one class: “I owned every second that this world could give, with every broken bone I swear I lived.” I thought of my own sister with cerebral palsy and began to get emotional. I had a decision to make in that moment — Do I just move on? Or do I take a few minutes and share about myself? I chose to share. We shared, we cried, and we grew closer. When students (especially male students) see an adult figure being truly real, it helps their emotional intelligence grow.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.
I think it’s when parents share how big of an impact my class has on their child. Parents have shared things like, “You are the only reason my child comes to school” or “My child would have not made it through high school without your class.” Teachers have such a huge impact on their students. Sometimes we get caught in the daily grind and it’s easy to forget that.

What are you reading for enjoyment?
“Rising Strong” by Brene Brown
What’s the best advice you ever received?
Provide authentic affirmation to your students at every opportunity.